Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is the second game of its type

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games has followed in the footsteps of its predecessor in utilising the publicity and hype of the real thing to boost its sales.

The combined sales of the Wii and DS versions has reached 6 million worldwide since its release back in October. SEGA will be very pleased with the extra sales that come around the time of the actual Olympic games as people get into the Olympic fever.

Having watched some of the Winter Olympics myself the game does interest me slightly. However, the thought of trying real-life skiing or snowboarding would be much more appealing to me…

Hands up and sorry if anyone clicked on this story thinking that Shemue III had finally been announced but the title isn’t exactly untrue.

Sega have announced that everyone’s favourite forklift truck driver will feature in the upcoming Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with his ride being the motorbike he tore around town on in Shenmue II. Even more impressive is the fact that Ryu’s special move sees him hopping into a fork-lift truck. Finally Fork-Lift truck racing in HD

In a move that will no doubt have Sonic wagging his finger furiously a news piece appeared and was then hastily removed on segapr.segaamerica.com this morning blowing the cover on some on Sony’s upcoming plans for PSN network and backwards compatibility on the PS3.

Being quick on the mouse we managed to grab the below which details the juiciest details from this “secret” meeting

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)

DC Digital Titles
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.

PSP Titles
For SKU differentiation it’s best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version.
Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin’s Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises.
SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.

Of the above it is no doubt the PS2 backwards compatibility and Dreamcast digital titles that will be most eagerly awaited….watch this space

The second to be released is Irides, a game of puzzle and challenge. Matching blocks, the faster you match, the higher your score.

A release date is expected to be given soon, pre-orders get two goodies. A free Irides iPod application and a promotional poster. Playing a Dreamcast with a shiny new poster on the wall, what more could we want from this 10 year anniversary?

On the day that the media focuses on The Beatles, be it back catalogue, Rock Band or the ongoing will they won’t they iTunes speculation, current EA Sports head Peter Moore has spoken on his blog about the launch of the Sega Dreamcast ten years ago to the day in the US.

Despite the spectacularly fast fall from grace that the console suffered when Sega swiftly pulled the plug and ran away from hardware production, the machine had a fantastic range of quality titles that are still praised in gaming circles today (Shenmue/Shenmue 2, Sega Sports’ 2K series (after EA Sports famously refused to support the console), Soul Calibur, Jet Set Radio & Virtua Tennis)

Also and of course most importantly for today’s internet connected generation of consoles the Sega Dreamcast was the first console to include internet functionality. On this Mr Moore says,

Isao Okawa, the Chairman of Sega Enterprises and the driving force behind the Dreamcast…had a vision that a game console, combined with the power of the internet, could bring people together in ways that were previously unimaginable. He didn’t live to see that vision come to fruition, and his beloved Dreamcast couldn’t survive to play a role in the powerful world of connected gaming we all enjoy today, but it certainly lit the spark, and that we should never forget…

This is certainly the case and you have to feel that the success enjoyed today by Xbox Live, PSN and Wii owe a debt of gratitude to this great but never forgotten console

In a big f*** you to all importers, it has come to light that Bayonetta will not be region free. Guess we’re all going to have to wait for Sega to release the title to the western world before getting to play this anticipated title. Anyone got a Jap-Xbox we can borrow?